Recording artist Kelley Hunt performing at Ladysmith Ballroom March 6

March 5, 2015—Celebrated Kansas City singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt will give an exclusive solo concert at country music star Miranda Lambert’s cozy new venue The Ladysmith Platinum BallroomFriday, March 6 in Tishomingo.

Showtime is 8 p.m. and seating is limited. Tickets are $25 and can be reserved at The Ladysmith by calling 580.371.3886 or may be purchased in advance online at www.kelleyhunt.com/shop.html. Hunt loves to take a break from touring with 5, 7 or 9 piece ensembles and occasionally schedule solo singer-songwriter shows relishing their personal vibe and the opportunity to open up all of her catalog. She also finds them great opportunities to try brand new work on live audiences.

All of the above will be part of her show at The Ladysmith. The intimacy and artist promise an extraordinary musical experience.

Kelley Hunt’s accomplished indie career spans five previous releases, 150,000 units sold, a formidable international tour history including appearances on a long list of elite stages in North America and Europe, six appearances on American Public Media’s St. Paul-based icon “A Prairie Home Companion” and plenty of other critical acclaim. But to hear the international press, fans and radio rave she has taken the most impressive step of her career with the May 20, 2014 88 Records release of “The Beautiful Bones”, her sixth album and her fourth as co-producer.

Across-the-board stellar reviews have posted for the new album. “More than bones prove beautiful on this scintillating release …,” “As she rips across strong originals like the funky ‘Golden Hour’ to high-torque, torrid testaments like the gospel blues of ‘Release and Be Free’, Kelley Hunt’s time has come.” writes Blues Music Magazine. Blues Blast Magazine says: “…this work is both totally inspirational and one of the best CDs you’ll hear this year.” Tumblr says: “a beautiful work of art. I highly recommend this …It is an album you will want to hear over and over discovering something new each time.” American Blues Scene exclaims: It is not very often that we receive an album that makes us sit down and really listen; like, grabs us and demands our full attention. Multi-instrumentalist Kelley Hunt has done exactly that with her new album, The Beautiful Bones. The album has depth, soul, personality, and nuance.” “… a 50-minute journey through these 12 windows into Kelley Hunt’s musical soul. Though some selections here are more blues or soul inflected than others, the entire album resonates with a quiet comfort firmly grounded in a gospel voice. The sound and mix on this album is first rate, and the music has an inviting clarity and freshness about it. This album will definitely lift your spirits and make you smile, on the inside.”

NYC’s Elmore writes: “Kansas City–based Kelley Hunt delivers a dozen originals (some with a co-writer) that span blues, roots, soul, rock and mostly gospel on The Beautiful Bones, her most fully realized album to date. These tunes showcase her marvelous vocal range and ever evolving strength as a songwriter.” Cashbox summarizes: “Kelley Hunt soars on her new release and invites listeners along for the ride.”

Thematically “The Beautiful Bones” album is about acknowledging, embracing and remembering our universal roots,” says Hunt, “not shying away from some tender truths, seeing the beautiful in the everyday-ness of the world, and celebrating the power of the heart of things.”

“The title song came about in a surprising way,” recalls Kelley. “I was sitting in my kitchen, looking out at the snowy Kansas landscape, playing a beautiful new guitar that I’d been given for Christmas and I began to see a barren silver maple just outside the window as my grandmother’s hand. It’s as if a message from her and all the strong women in my family was being sent and all of a sudden the song practically wrote itself. Words, music – everything – came at once. I was so moved by both the experience and the unexpected sentiment of the song I had tears in my eyes.”

“The Beautiful Bones” is Kelley Hunt’s sixth commercial release and builds on the critical acclaim and radio airplay from its predecessors. “Kelley Hunt resides among those bluesy, soulful piano players who write great songs,” wrote Vintage Guitar. “A superb live performer, immediately drawing you to the power of her music and her voice,” said Elmore magazine in a review of an earlier album. “This Kansan is a full-blown phenomenon: powerhouse singer, hard boogieing pianist, polished songwriter,” exclaimed the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Born in Kansas City, Kelley Hunt’s love of roots music came from listening to early blues, R&B, jazz, rock and gospel, with influences ranging from Aretha Franklin, Dinah Washington, Mahalia Jackson and Ann Peebles to Charles Brown, Johnny Johnson, Professor Longhair and Jay McShann.

She grew up around a mother who sang jazz and blues and was also influenced by her gospel singer grandmother who traveled for a while with a gospel choir and sang in New Orleans.

Hunt plans an aggressive tour schedule through the end of 2015 in support of “The Beautiful Bones.”